Can You Sell Anything To Anyone?

I was helping my brother the other day at a wedding fair and I bumped into a couple of people that I know from my business world over the years. I either knew them from when I worked in advertising, stationery sales or from my first Direct Selling Business. When I told them that I was helping my brother, they all said “Sure no better woman. You could sell snow to the Eskimos” or other versions of that. It has got me thinking??

Is that how people see me – as this amazing “Sales Person”?

You see I don’t see me as that. In fact, I hate traditional “selling!” I hate selling for the sake of a sale or to hit a target. It just goes against everything that I believe in. The way that I view my role and purpose is to educate people on the product that I am promoting and if it benefits them they can purchase it from me.

Life Prior To Network Marketing

When I was selling stationery, insurance, advertising, crisps etc before I went into direct sales, I could only sell something if I believed that they, needed it and wanted it and could benefit from it.

When I worked with stationery I was told by a manager, that it didn’t matter whether or not my customers needed something. I just had to sell it and hit targets. I felt so uncomfortable with that and under so much stress I actually left that job!

Then when it came to selling insurance, I was told that I was too honest to be an insurance sales person and I would never succeed. I promptly left that job – I could never do something were my integrity and honesty came into question!

When I worked for a Crisp company and I found out that their primary goal was to put another crisp company out of business – well I left that company too! So in traditional business, I really wasn’t an Amazing Sales Person. In their terms I failed, but I always hit and surpassed any targets that I was given!! I had great customer relations and can still go into customers that I haven’t “sold” to in over 15 years and they still remember my name.

Then I found Direct Sales…

I found my calling. A way that I could work around my family and still be able to be with them. To be able to sell a product that people needed and wanted. Then to be able to offer it to them at the best price possible (or even for free!). I built a huge customer base and I could go back to people at any time when new products were launched. People bought from me because they wanted to, not because they were forced into a sale. I love the fact that I am friends with people that started out as customers. It is fabulous that I was so lucky to have met them through the process of “selling” them something.

So can I really sell snow to the eskimos?

Well my honest answer to that is NO! Unless they needed it! I would feel very guilty if I was to sell anything to anyone when they actually didn’t need it and I would be embarrassed when I next saw them. I would hate the fact that would say that I sold them something that they didn’t need, and therefore would’t use and then it was deemed a waste of money.

So how can I then continually be a high retailer in any business that I am in?

I can only “sell” when there is a need. When I can help someone I will speak to them about what we have to offer and how it can help them. Yes I may be a great sales person but I am not a “salesy” person when I do it.

Here are my Top 10 Tips to becoming a Top Sales Person in your business.

Believe in your product – It is so important to have 100% belief in what you are selling to people. Your reputation is built on this. Do your research and know that you have the best possible product/service available in your area.

Listen to your clients – When we go into sales mode, we have this desire to tell our client EVERYTHING about the product/service and how good it is for them. STOP!! We have 2 ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk and it will serve you well. Check out another blog post on listening.

Know your target market – There is no point in trying to be everything to everyone. You and your product/service can not do it. Decide on your target market and know what they need and desire. Then when you are marketing your product/service, that is who you direct it too.

Build relationships every day– The more relationships you have in the business world the easier it is for you to be seen as the go to person when it comes to business. People want to do business with people that they trust. Yes, it may take a little longer in the short term, but the long term benefits far out weigh the time spent building the relationships with your clients.

Think about how you can help rather than what you can sell – when you help someone they will remember you. When you help someone they will refer you. When you help someone they are grateful. I love being able to help people and it gives me the greatest pleasure of all.

Provide your clients with value – if you are running a Facebook page and are continually “pitching” your clients, they will get fed up and switch off. Think about giving them some information that they can implement into their lives that will give them benefit – and it has got nothing to do with a sale. This helps them and it also builds up trust in you and your brand.

Make sure that your clients get success– Never view a sale as just a sale and then run for the hills. Make sure that your customer gets good results, loves your product/service and therefore is successful. A happy customer is worth their weight in gold. I have turned customers away as I knew that they wouldn’t be successful with our weight loss programme. They respected me for that, and when they were right for the programme I accepted them onto it. (If I had accepted them at the start, they would have failed, felt as though they wasted their money, not trusted me in the future and given me and my programme a bad name. When they came back they got success and even joined my business).

Take the emotion out of the sale – This may sound weird but it is very true. Don’t be offended if someone says no to you. You will NEVER get the sale from everyone! You just take notes and then move on. If you take things personally, you will never progress. Learn from the experience and move on.

Personalise what you have on offer – I HATE scripts!!! Think about when you have received a call from a call centre and all they do is go through the same script that they use for every single call. How often to you purchase from them? I bet there are very few that do! You must personalise what you have to offer so that your client can relate to it.

The fortune is in the follow up – I highly recommend that you follow up with your clients on a regular basis. Even if they haven’t even purchased yet. So many sales are missed because a person doesn’t follow up with their potential customer. So many customers move to another brand because they don’t feel that they are looked after. Look after your customers and they will look after you.

When you adopt the points above anyone can be a great sales person. I wasn’t born a great sales person. I practised until I became great! It is a fabulous feeling helping people and building a business in tandem with it. I highly recommend it.

So in answer to my question at the top. You don’t have to be a “Sales Person” to succeed you just have to help enough people to get what they need.

I hope that you are able to take something from this and grow your business. If you would like to connect, drop me an email to sandramiskimmin@me.com or connect with me on Facebook.